I Love You
by She's a Star
Summary: Satine tries to figure out how to profess her love to Christian, and the Duke overhears...


I Love You  
  
Disclaimer: Moulin Rouge belongs to Baz Luhrmann  
  
A/N: Okey dokey, this is pretty much pointless fluff....I had it written out in my mind, and it was MUCH better. Don't you just hate it when that happens? Oh well, you get to read it anyway :) Aren't you just overjoyed?  
  
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I love you.  
Satine had eliminated the phrase from her vocabulary long ago. After all, when would she ever use it? It wasn't as though she was going to fall in love...her profession prevented her from doing so, and even if it didn't, she still wouldn't.  
Satine liked to be in control.  
When you were in love, you lost control.   
And once you lost control, you lost everything.  
Or at least, that's what she'd written in stone in the back of her mind, and lived by easily for the first twenty-four years of her existence.  
But now...now that Christian was in her life, she found the words begging to escape from her lips each time she was with him.   
He said it freely, without stopping to consider the consequences and the fact that a love like theirs would never end happily ever after.  
Satine wished she could be that way...the look of hurt in his eyes whenever he told her he loved her and she didn't return the words was almost too much to bear. He understood why she couldn't answer, and he tried to hide the fact that it bothered him, but Satine could always see his face fall the tiniest bit.   
That heartbreaking expression haunted her day and night, and she knew that she'd drive them both mad if she didn't tell him.  
"And I'm going to tell him," she thought aloud to herself one afternoon as she sat alone in the red room. "The next time we're alone together, I'm going to tell him...I'm just going to walk up to him, kiss him, and say it. I mean, is it really that difficult? No, of course not. It'll be fine, it'll be fine...oh, dear God, Satine, you're holding conversations with yourself."  
She sighed in exasperation and sank down onto the bed.   
With a moan, she muttered, "My sanity is slipping away from me as I speak."  
Hugging a red velvet pillow with gold tassels to her chest, she began to speak softly. "Christian, I love you...no, too casual, it's not as if I'm commenting on the weather..."  
She absently twirled a red curl around her finger as she made a second attempt.   
Her tone airy and seductive, she purred, "I love you", then laughed in self-disgust.  
"PLEASE, Satine," she muttered dryly. "He's not another one of your customers, he's CHRISTIAN."  
"I love you?" she tried, raising her voice on the last word and making it sound more like a question than a statement.  
"Argh!"   
It shouldn't be this hard, Satine thought angrily. I mean, it's the truth...why am I torturing myself over this?  
But she knew why.  
She wanted the words to be perfect, which really was pointless. Christian loved her for who she was...she shouldn't have to practice saying "I love you".  
And yet she couldn't shake the feeling that she should be at least a bit prepared.  
"I love you," she whispered into the empty room, her voice small and weak.  
No...she couldn't do it like that. The words were meaningless...she had to put her heart into it.  
With a sigh, she closed her eyes and pictured Christian...the dark hair, flopping into his face, the twinkling eyes, the sweet, sincere smile.   
Satine really loved his smile...she loved the way it seemed to light up his entire face, and then the air around him. Just thinking about him beaming caused a smile to play around the corners of her own crimson lips.  
"I love you," she murmured, her voice full of warmth and passion. She smiled in satisfaction.  
It was going to be all right. All she needed was to be with him, and the words would come.  
"I love you, I love you, I love you," Satine sang happily under her breath, feeling like a lovesick schoolgirl. Her voice grew louder, ringing out the words.  
"I love you..."  
"Oh, my dear, I feel the same," a highly nasal tone replied.  
Satine screamed, not in surprise, but disgust.  
Of all people, it had to be the Duke...of course.  
"Sorry to have frightened you, my sweet," he apologized, planting a kiss on her forehead.  
Satine forced a smile. "Oh, it's all right, dear Duke..."  
"I heard you...singing in there," the Duke smiled in a manner Satine was sure he thought charming.  
"Oh," Satine said weakly, a nervous laugh escaping her lips. "I was just...warming up my voice...practicing for the play..."  
"You don't have to lie to me," the Duke murmured, kissing her neck.  
Somehow I doubt you'd like the truth much, Satine thought dryly.  
"I know you've probably never felt the way about a man that you do about me," the Duke continued.  
"That's...true," Satine said slowly.  
"But you don't have to be embarrassed, my love," the Duke said, his voice containing an air of practiced sophistication. "I'm used to it...you aren't the first woman I've had this effect on."  
"I...I'm sure I'm not," Satine said, biting her lip to hold back laughter.  
"Now, my sweet, I'm afraid I have to leave...meeting with Zidler about financing the production," the Duke pulled away from her, and Satine put on an expression of reluctance.  
"Must you?"  
"I'm afraid so, my dear," the Duke said, then got up and began to walk away.  
Thank GOD, Satine thought, then groaned inwardly as he stopped, no more than three feet away from the golden door.  
"I love you," he said with a frightening smile.  
Satine shuddered, but put on Sparkling Diamond mode and purred the words back.  
As soon as the door closed behind him, she let out a little shriek of disgust.  
"Oh, yuck, yuck, YUCK," Satine exclaimed under her breath.  
Now she had another reason for being anti-"I love you".  
It was DANGEROUS. Some stupid IDIOT who obviously didn't own a mirror could overhear and think she was talking about him.  
"He thinks I LOVE him!" she spat, burying her head with a pillow and resisting the urge to scream at the top of her lungs.  
"Well...I'll..understand if you don't," a familiar, much more welcome voice replied, sounding a bit hurt.  
Satine lifted the pillow from her head and turned to see Christian standing in the doorway. Tossing the pillow back onto the bed, she walked over and wrapped her arms around him.  
"Not YOU," she said with a smile, staring into his blue eyes, which lacked their normal sparkle at the moment. "I love you."  
The sparkle returned at once, and Christian grinned at her.  
"I love you," he replied, leaning in closer to her.  
She'd done it...she'd actually done it, without even realizing that the words had escaped her mouth until they did. They just...came when she was around him.  
She loved him.  
She loved him, and he loved her, and he knew it.  
Their lips met, and Satine was filled with the blissful sensation of contentment.  
Maybe "I love you" wasn't so bad, after all.  
  
  
  
THE END  
  
  
A/N 2: Pathetically corny, pretty much plotless, I know, I know. But guess what? REVIEW ANYWAY! And if you're nice, it'll brighten my day. Thaaaaaaank you :) 


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